Cornwall Council elections, 1934
The Cornwall Council elections of 1934 were the fourth ever full elections to the Cornwall Council which occurred during the worst parts of the Great Depression. For the first time ever the Conservatives were able to win a majority in the Council in 1929 and while entering popular, the economic issues took hold and unemployment rose quickly. To stimulate the economy the Cornwall naming referendum, 1929 took place resulting in "New Cornwall" being renamed to "Cornwall". Several town signs were remade resulting in probably two or three jobs at the most, and people no longer calling the settlement "new". By 1932 unemployment had risen to 26%, and since no social welfare action was taken by 1933 it jumped to 45% and many people decided to leave the settlement creating a decrease in unemployment of about 7.0% in the coming year. The economic actions taken during 1931 led to a decrease in local income tax to 1.5% levied only on the richest of Cornwallians, those making 286,000 or more and a 0.6% property tax. In addition to spending being cut, the Conservatives lowered all government employee pay 1%. The Cornish Progressive Party picked up two seats from the Conservatives, giving the Progressives seven seats winning over two Proportional representation seats, and along with the Moderate Party's two seats from Proportional representation the first ever government coalition was made between the CPP and MP. The next five years during the depression saw the government taking large control over the economic situation in the Hamlet. The first action taken by the CPP was a local "Business Tax" which was levied on businesses making 250,000 and over in Cornwall. The tax was a modest 0.25% and only applied to 4 businesses in the Hamlet. In 1935 large amounts of public spending came in from the local and federal government. The "Cooperson Deal" was reached between the Federal and Local government which allowed the Cornwall Council to have more control of the settlement's finances. The advocate for Cornwall, Dean Cooperson, stated money would be given to the Council that otherwise would be earmarked for other projects, but instead the Council would have complete control of that money now. The deal was only suppose to last for ten years but was never broken off by the Federal Government and continued until 2010. The "1936 Cornwall Council Budget" included new economic reforms to combat unemployment and introduce progressive taxation and other Keynesian economic measures. The Local Business Tax (LBT) was split up into two brackets. Those earning 78,000-150,000 were taxes 0.25% and all earning over 150,000 were taxed 0.29%. The original plans for the lower bracket were from 50,000-150,000, but the Moderate Party said they would not go through with the budget if such a bracket were to be made, so it would now start at 78,000. Income taxes were also split up into two brackets, those earning 47,000-147,000 taxed at 1.7% and those earning 147,000 and up taxed at 2.0%. Property taxes were raised 0.01% to 0.61%. This along with the major amount of money coming from the Federal Government led to roads being rebuilt, the Cornwall Docks being patched up and extended, and the Cornwall Lighthouse being built and completed in 1938. Along with more people leaving the settlement to find work Cornwall's unemployment woes were taken care of with unemployment drastically dropping to 6.7% at the end of this term and 4.5% by the end of the decade. Category:Election Category:Cornwall Category:Clymene Category:Local politics